1 . Field of the Invention
Photon therapy is used amongst others for the treatment of muscular skeletal disorders and wound healing. Photon therapy systems are primarily administered by chiropractors, physiotherapists, sports therapists, and medical doctors in a clinical environment. Generally, photon therapy treatment is effected by applying light energy or photons in the visible and/or infrared regions to parts of the body. Strictly speaking, in photon therapy the light energy generated does not produce any significant heating effects but does invoke photochemical and photobiolgical effects in the biological tissue.
2. Description of the Prior Art
While numerous photon therapy systems are in existence today, non provide a complete range of flexiblility in choosing treatment parameters. Having the ability to choose various treatment parameters is essential for a commercial application. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,503 to Bertwell et al. describes a flexible pad in which an array of photodiodes are mounted. Power is supplied to the pads and is controlled by a knob connected to a rheostat. A current supplied to the pads is visually monitored by a light bar display. One of the major disadvantages of this device is the inability to guarantee consistent priorities for successive treatments. Although the patent describes a mechanism for recording treatments applied to specific body regions, there is no guarantee that with this device the amount of current supplied to the pads as set by the rheostat will always produce the same light intensity from the diodes on successive treatments.
U.S. Pat No. 5,259,380 to Mendes et al. discloses a light therapy system in which the light is emitted in a narrow bandwidth. A continuous voltage differential is utilized to energize the diodes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,504, a device for biostimulation of tissue is disclosed which comprises an array of substantially monochromatic radiation sources of at least three different wavelengths. The system has a control unit to which a single beam probe or a cluster beam probe may be connected. The control unit provides control of the beam radiation pulse frequency, duration, period of treatment and measurement of the conductivity of the tissue being treated. A means for measuring the optical power emitted by the probes is described.
As mentioned briefly above, of the numerous photon therapy systems in existence, none provide the ability to accurately vary the pulse width, duty cycle, waveform, average power and peak power as well as provide a "hands off" treatment of the practitioner. Furthermore, the probes of the prior art do not provide internal diagnostics.